Column

A thrill of excitement is sweeping across Hong Kong, and it isn’t just about the imminent victory of Barack Obama, who is hugely popular here, as he is around the world. What, instead, has this city abuzz is a curious story centred around the US presidential election, which has gained enormous traction.

Evidently two guys in Hong Kong — Henry, an Obama supporter, and Wilson, a diehard John McCain backer — have a bet on the election outcome, as part of which the loser of the bet will buy the first drink for anyone who walks into Tokoro, a trendy Japanese bar in Hong Kong. If Obama wins, anyone who walks into the bar from now until December 31 and says “Put it on Henry’s tab” gets a free drink; likewise, if McCain wins, the drink is on Wilson.

On its website, Tokoro affirms the bet is on, and that it has signed statements from both men that one or the other will pick up the tab. Even if, as many people suspect, it’s only an enterprising sales gimmick to promote the bar, no one is complaining. In these recessionary times, a free drink is cause enough for good cheer.

An Indian family in Hong Kong, whose members are emotionally invested in an Obama victory, is hosting a more partisan party later this week to celebrate the near-certainty of an Obama victory. Suren and Soshima Safaya are long-time residents of Hong Kong and diehard political junkies who have been following Obama’s inspirational political journey, particularly over the past two years. They’ve been regulars at Obama supporters’ events in Hong Kong and are enthusiastic contributors to the Obama campaign; non-Americans aren’t allowed to contribute money to the campaign, but there’s no bar on them buying Obama merchandise.

One of Republican vice-presidential candidates Sarah Palin’s schoolmates in Wasilla, Alaska, now lives in my neighbourhood in Hong Kong, but she confesses she doesn’t remember anything of Palin — and in any case, being a social liberal, is voting for Obama.Robin Brown, who moved to Hong Kong last year, says she went to school with Palin, was taught by Palin’s father, and played basketball with Palin’s younger sister at Wasilla High School. “It’s just so bizarre, but I cannot remember her at all,” she says of Palin. “She must have been rally shy or something because it was such a small town.”